The First Warning

"Whew!"

With the immediate crisis resolved, Wang Yue couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

At this moment, he was also carefully examining the mechanical dog, which was now like scrap metal, his eyes full of curiosity.

"This thing... looks like a high-tech mechanical doll!"

"This is a rare type of mechanical object developed through alchemical technology."

Lister simply explained that the monsters in the Alchemy Ruined City can be judged by their overall strength based on their energy crystals.

Generally between D and B rank, the strength of the enemies increases compared to the first three acts.

In addition, there is a special distinguishing rule.

These are "humanoid" machines, generally starting at grade C. The more realistic they look, the higher the grade of the energy crystal will be, such as grade B or even grade A.

In other words, the more lifelike a machine is, the stronger it is!

Alchemy?

"Is this an ancient civilization?"

Wang Yue seemed to have heard of Alchemy Civilization before, and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

This piqued Lister's interest as well. Although he had searched through most of the ancient books in the Western Continent, he had not read any records of the Great Chu Imperial Dynasty regarding the past.

They also ignored Wang Yue's background from the Great Chu, and were now looking at her with considerable anticipation.

Have you heard of the Alchemy Civilization? Do you know anything else about it?

"I heard about it when I was studying mechanical arts at the Mohist School; Alchemy Civilization is an ancient civilization."

"It is said that the creation of mechanical arts bears the shadow of the original Alchemy Civilization, but it is also different from the Alchemy Civilization."

"I'm not familiar with other records, and I don't recall seeing any mention of them in any classical texts."

After carefully recalling the events, Wang Yue shook her head.

Even though it seems that the Great Chu doesn't have much information about Alchemy Civilization, it only relies on certain stories and what is circulated among some special sects.

Lister was not disappointed. Since there were few records of Lucian, he estimated that the situation in the Great Chu should be similar. Now it was just a matter of confirmation.

Holding the depleted energy crystal in his hand, he felt the last 1% of energy within it flowing towards him.

As long as there are still enough cycles, the crystal will always retain 1% of its energy.

This is also how Lister oriented himself in these underground ruins; the direction in which the core energy faintly fluctuated was the direction of the Alchemy Ruined City.

At this moment, the ruins are located directly north of Lister, and judging from the extremely weak energy fluctuations, they must be very far away.

They seemed to have been teleported directly to the edge of the ruins.

Currently, they are heading towards the ruined city, following the direction of the energy fluctuations.

For Lister, the various contaminated alchemical machines outside the city were useless to him, since he wasn't there to grind monsters and level up.

Now, all the information he needs must be found within the ruins.

More importantly, Lister also wanted to find Kavin Diehl.

The other party arrived at the ruins early, so they should have made more discoveries.

It's time to wrap up the profits, including their share of the gains within the ruins.

As for whether Kavin Diehl had already died in this ruined city, Lister was not worried at all.

If he is truly dead, it can only prove one thing: the Kavin Deer he came into contact with was not the cosmic celebrity he knew.

The previous contact and investment were meaningless.

"Reconnaissance of enemy and friendly forces is underway... Reconnaissance results have been obtained..."

[Target Found: Contaminated Alchemy Type C Mechanism (Humanoid)]

[Level: Lv63]

[Health Points: 30313/30313]

We encountered quite a few monsters along the way.

They were all contaminated alchemical machines, exactly the same as Lister's memories from his previous life.

The humanoid machine in front of me only has a body and limbs that are in an upright position like a human.

The head is a mechanical skull made of metal, and the limbs are polymers of various scrap metals.

After all, it only has a C-level energy core, which is the lowest level among humanoid machine models.

Meanwhile, for humanoid machines, the core energy crystal is located either on the forehead or in the center of the chest.

The humanoid machine in front of me is embedded in my forehead.

With a swift, sharp blade, Wang Yue had initially been eager to try his luck, immediately retreated to Lister's side.

Even though he didn't care about the experience points, he believed that even a small amount was still something, so he took care of all the monsters along the way, leaving Wang Yue with absolutely nothing to do.

However, after two days, Lister vaguely sensed that Wang Yue's aura beside him had become stronger.

Knowing that with his perception, it was difficult for him to be mistaken now, he immediately used the system to scan.

[Name: Wang Yue]

[Level: LV42]

[Occupation: Faceless Person (Other)]

Level 42?

It wasn't his imagination after all, though Lister had a slight doubt.

He was the one who killed the monsters these past two days, and Wang Yue didn't have any way to gain experience and level up by killing monsters.

This level... could it be that it levels up automatically?

After carefully scanning the other party's four-dimensional attributes, it was indeed found that they had increased to 42 points.

Even the S-rank Faceless skill was immediately upgraded to LV42.

Lister immediately had a guess in his mind.

For some future super-powerful figures, their previous environment may be the main reason that hindered their growth in strength.

The Alchemy Technology Ruins are an area with a level cap of 80. Once you enter these areas, the level cap for top players is unlocked.

The only problem is that the leveling up is a bit too fast; not to mention that the level increases by one level per day.

Even most of his skills were maxed out, and his four main attributes were also boosted accordingly. Lister felt mostly envious.

Another day passed, and the two finally arrived at the outskirts of the Alchemy Ruined City.

As expected, Wang Yue leveled up again, now reaching LV43.

The outermost entrance to the Alchemy Ruined City is District Forty-Nine.

Although District Forty-Nine faces the outside of the city, it is not protected by high walls, but by a special energy shield.

Meanwhile, it remained completely dark from the outside, making it impossible to ascertain the true situation inside.

"Energy shield detected. Overall shield level: Tier 8, Strength: S-rank."

It is on the same level as the energy shield above the entire ruins.

Leading Wang Yue to the side, they entered the only entrance to the area, before the familiar giant tungsten-gold gate.

A green light flashed, scanning the two of them.

"Detecting... please wait."

A mechanical voice, devoid of any emotion, rang out.

"Test complete. Race/classification: Human, not a contaminated life form."

"Entry permitted!"

"Boom!"

The next moment, a huge, smooth tungsten-gold gate rose from the ground in front of them.

The cityscape of District Forty-Nine finally came into view.

A city of reinforced concrete buildings leaps off the page, the facades of towering buildings are dilapidated, and the light rail that winds through the air is full of rust.

Apart from some tracks, there was nothing else on the ground roads. The only impression he got was that they were clean and tidy, unlike the yellow sandy ground outside the city.

The entire ruins remained dimly lit, illuminated only by faint green streetlights.

This city, with its somewhat cyberpunk style, has no other neon lights; the main color scheme is green, as if it were a safe color.

Lister and his companion strolled through the area, and their first impression of the District Forty-Nine was its tranquility.

Unlike before, when players were everywhere.

Currently, District Forty-Nine has neither light pollution nor noise pollution.

They hadn't taken more than a few steps when they suddenly heard running footsteps in the distance.

Two figures rushed towards them.

Wang Yue was initially wary, but upon seeing the green energy crystal embedded in the other person's forehead, she couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"Could this be an alchemical creature too? It looks so much like a human!"

"Reconnaissance of enemy and friendly forces is underway... Reconnaissance results have been obtained..."

[Target Found: Alchemy Type B Mech (Humanoid)]

[Level: Lv77]

[Health Points: 160214/160214]

Compared to the low-level humanoid machines they encountered outside the city, the two in front of them looked much more realistic.

In particular, the surfaces of these two humanoid machines are covered with humanoid biological tissue skin, and they are dressed in white bodysuits made of a special material.

Judging from its appearance and clothing alone, it is indeed difficult to tell whether it is a real person or not; it truly lives up to its B-class humanoid mechanic status.

Of course, Lister had experience from his previous life and knew that apart from the players, there were no native humans living in this ruined city.

Moreover, anyone with some knowledge of the matter can easily identify the energy crystals on the forehead and chest.

Uncontaminated energy crystals are green when used.

All the mechanical lifeforms within the city use uncontaminated energy crystals.

Later players were able to obtain these uncontaminated energy crystals through side quests.

"Target detected: Human. Not a contaminated life form; no removal required."

"Congratulations to both of you. You have automatically gained residency status within the city. Currently, you are permitted to operate in districts 20-49."

"These are your identification badges and a city operations manual. Please keep them safe."

His eyes were lifeless and empty, but his speech and behavior were quite polite.

Lister was already used to this, while Wang Yue still looked incredulous.

The two individuals' identification plaques were placed very high up, unlike the nine-figure plaque of Lister's previous life.

The two pieces I have now have three-digit numbers, and the numbers are very clear: 002 and 003.

This immediately confirmed to Lister that Kavin Deer should still be inside the city!

Otherwise, the nameplates from the Alchemy Ruined City would be recycled and reused, and the ones given to them should be numbers 001 and 002.

"First warning issued to human residents 002 and 003. The warning has been recorded and uploaded, registration number LA000230X01. Warning content: Please keep to the left within the city."

I was just thinking how polite they were, but then they spoke up again, that damned, familiar warning.

Lister received the same warning when he first arrived in the Alchemy Ruined City in his previous life, or as most players have experienced.

Each of these robots in the city has management authority and can regulate and guide the players' behavior.

Of course, you can ignore this warning, but after three violations, your reputation score will be deducted.

Then the area where you can move around in the ruins will continue to shrink, and in the most extreme cases, you will be completely restricted to area 49.

Recovering reputation points is relatively easy; simply kill the corrupted alchemy machines outside the city, and your reputation points will slowly rise back.